Railroad tie



B. HASKELL RAILROAD TIE Filed June 16 1927 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 wrrNEssEs NVENTOR e l l L? g ZH!! March 27, 1928.

B. HASKELL RAILROAD TIE Filed June 1e 1927 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 R O T N E V m WITNESSES Patented Mar. 27, 1928.

UNITED STATES Y A V1,663,984 PATENT OFFICE.

ir'aonnitron HASKELL, or rmiinztnr, rENNs'YLvANIA.

RAILROAD Tru.

Application led June 16, 1927. Serial No. 199,188.

This invention relates to railroad ties, and particularly yto ties formed of wood ,and meta-1 parts combined.'

Y An object of the invention isto make a 5 ti-e having the strength of a metal structure with the resiliency of wood.- Another object is to utilize worn out rails for' making ties. f Another Objectis to provide constantly operative ,means4 for compensating for shrinkage of wooden parts and for permit-l ting expansion' thereof without undue strain on rigid parts.l Other Vobjects and advantages will appear in the following speoifica`v tion.

It has previously been lproposed to `constructl railway ties from old or discarded rails, with wooden blocks secured theretoA for thefpurpose ofreceiving the service rails vand also to confer, 4in part yat least, some o the advantages inherent in wooden ties, The aim thereof was dual; both touse old rail stock, which had only scrap value, and also to conserve the rapidlyjdiminishin'g supply of prime quality Woodsrneed'ed forf ties.'

These prior structures, however, so far as I know, have not been satisfactory, and have apparently. never attained commercial suocess, despite the obviousfadvantages to be secured. One of the chief reasons- 4therefor v has been dueto thel fact that thewooden raiLretaining members swell or shrink as they absorb moisture or as they dry out.. In the first case the result is lthat 'the wood' irl-'swelling may exert sufficient pressure to shear olf the threadsfon clamping bolts,

where such means ofattachment is used; in

the case wherethe blocksdry out, they mayv shrink so much that they` become loosened,-l

thereby endangering traffic;y i v Accordingly, I have been led to. devise a simple mean-s for effectively compensati-ng 'for these volume changes in the blocks used Yin ties madeup in the manner referred to.

By the applicationl of this invention, therefore, it is possible to use discarded rail stock for makingv suc-hv ties, and to gain other advantages, as will be set forth.-

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, of whichv Fig. l'prepresents a planv view of the tie construction;

Fig. 2 a'zsideview of the same, showing rails fastened thereto; Fig. 3 a cross sectional view-'ofone form of the tie, ltaken on line IIL-III of Fig. 1; and Figs. 4 to -6- repre i5l sent similar views of another form, a

`consists in the use of av spring device 5,

.parts of the'tie.-'

being as before a plan view of the modified tie construction; Fig.' 5 a side view of the same; and Fig. 6 asectional view taken v'on line VI-VI of Fig. et. v

Referring to Figs. 1 t0 3, the'structuralf part of the tieA is representedby the numeral 1, whichis preferably made from discarded rails. In its preferredform, these members l are made by first cutting the head fromthe rail and then rollingv the base portion, or otherwise reforming the flange so as `to Hatten it, resulting in a T-sectional .form as illustrated in Fig. 3. These railsa-re cut to standard tie lengths, two such lengths being used to make each tie. These two. lengths'are placed side by side, with the web up as shown in Fig. 3, and are spaced apart a suitable distance to receive wooden f. blocks 2 between them, these vblocks-being spaced-properlyV to receivey the rails?) when laid, the rails -being secured to the blocks in the usual manner, as with spikes 6.

In order to prevent grounding of the sigv nal circuits carried by the rails, and also to permit the blocks to absorb the trafii'c impact, these blocks are preferably'cut so that they extend above the wall lor web2, as shown by Fig. 3. i y

In order to securely fasten the blocks to the members 1, and to ymake the tie 'structure rigid, the blocks' are lclamped between these sections, preferably' by bolts 4, 'passed entirely therethrough. Y v -Y An important feature of this invention which compensates for. any volume changes `in the-.blocksfdue to swelling or shrinking, Y

andv which thereby preserves the tightlyclamped relation fof the wood and met-al v f f Y 95 ThisV spring may be made y.from anyl suitable material, suchasstrong spring steel,

and according to the'ipreferredembodiment l of the invention is made from-plate', orfstrap stock, arsuitable lengthbeing bent into the '100 bowed form shown in Fig. 1. Y .The formed' spring is 'placed in position between the boltsiheads, `or nuts, andthe wall or web of the rail member 1, vvin ysuch manner that the `outwardly bent ends bearyl against the boltV heads (orffnuts), the middle inwardly bowed portion of this leaf spring then bearing on the'y web between-the bolts. The nuts are then drawn up until the proper clamping actionisl secured, the" construction no .of the bolt.

being `such that the spring is then under stress. The installation isnormally made with dry wooden blocks, so that the later movement is expansion and then contraction of the wood.

The actionfof the spring may be explained as follows. When the wooden blocks eX- pand due to absorption of moisture, these springs take up the resultant thrust, and thereby prevent undue strain on the threads When the wood shrinks, the springs, being initially under stress follow and firmly press against members l, thereby preventing the blocks from becoming loose therebetween. v

Thus it will be readily apparent that the tie structure is both economical, since it makes use of scrap yrails instead of large in the figures.

cause it will effectively overcome' the disadvantages which inhere in prior composite structures of similar nature. It will also be apparent that the blocks may be made from sound portions of old wooden ties as well as from new material. Since the blocks are normally only about one-sixth the length of a tie, there is a saving of twosthirds in new wood. In addition much wood is good enough-'for such short lengths, though a full length tie might not be cut therefrom. So,'too, the intermediate portions of old ties may be'good though the ends may be split `and useless. f

Likewise, it is possible to utilize discarded rails without removing the heads or otherwise reforming them. For example,l where means for thus reforming therrails are not at hand,'or where this reforming is undesirable for other reasons, it is possible simply to cut the rails to proper tie length. This embodiment of the invention is illustrated by Figs.

-4 to 6. In these drawings, an ordinary discarded rail cut to tie length is represented by 10, and the wooden railreceiving blocks are indicated `at 11. VBlocks 11 are as before vspaced between members 10, and bolts 4; passed entirely therethrough, the spring 5 being positioned as before and as shown The rails asv laidV are indicated by the numeral 3a, these being fastened as usualby spikes 6a.

As in the first embodiment shown,V it -is desirable 'to cut the blocks l1 so that they extend above the rail head. Inrthis case it will also be necessary to shape the sides of the blocks to conform to the space between the rail head and flange.` This is done by head and flange, respectively, as shown inV Fig. 6.

It will be observed that in both forms,` the wooden blocks are seated upon the rail flanges, and the sides are securely held beyend in regard to the spring action.

wood blocks on the two sides and bottom, preventing splitting under load.

It is not intendedvto limit the invention to the leaf-type springs illustrated lin the drawingsY and described in the foregoing specifi tween the vertical webs. This reinforces the i cation, since other types may function and simplicity andois intended to meanboth However, these leaf springs the expression v #heads of said bolts is used for clearness the head end proper and also the'nut end, which latter may for the purposes ofthis invention be consideredrto act like the head I claim: Y. l. A railway` tie comprising aA pair of spaced metal sections each having a vertically disposed web Vand a flange base, rail# supporting blocks of wood arranged between the webs of said sections, clamps for attaching said blocks tosaid sections, and resilient means acting upon said clamps -to yprevent undue stress upon them when 'the' blocks `expand and to maintain the blocks firmly clamped kbetween v theV sections when the blocks contract.

2. A railway tie comprising a 4,pair of`V lspaced metal sections each having a vertically disposed web anda Vflanged base,rail

supporting blocks of wood arranged between the `webs of said sections, bolts extending through said 'blocks and the webs of said sections for clamping the blocks between the sections, and resilientpmeans acting upon said bolts to prevent undue stress upon them when the blocks expand and to maintain the blocks firmly clamped between the sections when the blocks contract. y'

A railway tie comprising ai pair'of spaced metal sections veach having a vertically Vdisposed webf and aflanged base,'rail supporting blocks of wood arranged between the Vwebs ofsaid sections, bolts extending through said blocks and the webs of said sections for clamping the blocks between the sections, Iand springs actingV between the heads of said bolts and the webs -of said sections to compensate for transverse expan .Y

supporting blocks' of wood arranged be- Y tween the webs of said sections, bolts extending through said blocks andthe webs ofsaid sections for clamping the blocks between the sections, and `bowed' leaf springs having their ends engaged by the heads ofjsaid bolts and their middle portions bearing upon the webs of said sections tov` compensate for vold rails arranged in a parallel pair, blocks of wood positioned between said rails and adapted to receive track members seating thereon, the blocks being seated upon the rail fianges and clamped between the rail webs, clamping bolts extending through the l0 old rails and blocks, and bar springs posif tioned lbetween the boltsiand outer sides of the webs of the old rails7 said springs engaging the bolts at their ends and engaging Y vthe rail webs between the bolts, the springs rbeing inwardly bowed between the bolts,

whereby to exert constant inward pressure on the rail webs. Y

In testimony whereof, I sign my name.

BRODERICK HASKELL. 

